Positioning device for laundry machines



Nov. 25, 1930.

P. C. BRUCKMANN POSITIONING DEVICE FOR LAUNDRY MACHINES Filed June 20, 1924 //a fexsfar' P5724 677a, Ema/mm a y n '7 1 PETER o. BRUoxMAniI, on s'r. LOUIS, iirissonni, AssIGiI RQBYMESnE Patented Nov. 25, 1930 TO voRcLonE COMPANYQA oon ronnmron or} Wisconsin" rosrriomnepnvrdnnon mommy MACHINES 7 Application filed June 20,

This invention pertains to safety devices and particularly such as may be appl ed to ape paratus in which a heavy power drlvenmember must atcertain times be moved by hand so as to position the same.

In 0611131111 types of machinery; in

stance inlaundry machines, in which the: laundry tub is power driven duringthe 1101'?" Ina-l operation, the powerdrivenelement in A y y as apphedtoa laundrytub lwithiniwhich the clothes drumi38rotates on a shaftZAA'gear:

provided fordriving the j drum; The power connectionswhichidrive this case the drum, must be stopped in a, certain position so that the door of thedrum will stand opposite the opening for the iIlSGI'lllOIl;

or removal of the clothes.- The: stopping' of the power drive is usually not arranged to stop the drumiin any particular position and consequently the drum:v mustbeyrnoved by hand to its properposition after the power, 1'

drive has been stopped.

Variousdevices have been applied for thus.- positioning the drum; These usually involve 9 a hand driving eleinentiwhich may beengaged. or disengaged from the drum. If the hand i y drivingdeviceis not Specially protected there is dangerthat it may be thrown into engages ment accidentally While the power drive is active. As the hand operating device is nsue i n allyprovided aicraiikforoperating the" sa1ne,there is danger-L that such accidental en gagenlent will cause the crank toberevolved bythe power drive Obviously this isa7source ofidangerto the attendants operating thermal- I One of the? objects. ofthisihventioh there fore is to provide Ineansffor positioning such a power drivenaelemenuby lhan'd'lw'hich is; a ainply prote'cted'against acoidentaloperation:

Anotherobject istoprovide such a-hand in i positioning device soarran'gedthat the opera lowing description takenirr connection i free orfdisengaged condition as soon the operator freleases hisgrasp; Q

member or "dog 1'5.

tension as illustratedinFigure 4; p i Mounted on the arm 12 and acen't the 1924. Serial no. 721,279.

embodyingthis invention} connection there-1 a i Wlth.; M

Figure 2 is an enlar- A OF ICE iiaimiams, y 7

The invention is illustrated in the 3 on the shaftis the drum during normal operationjmay in-g clude a pairoi loosepulleys 39, and a tight pulleytO on a counterfshaft' ll carrying a pin iOI IAQ'WhiCh engages the gear A shifter 431's adaptedltoshift aniopenbelt 44: oracrossbeltj45 to the tight pulley 40 to drive the drum in; opposite directions. These connections are well known in the art. y-

M e he end of the t b 1 andfad j il' cent'the'peripheryofthegearfiis map e -a; ing bracketj l inzwhich are mounted apairo f r 1 3 shortshaftso andfip Slidably mounted on the y n shaft 5 is apinion whosehub 8 has' formed f it thereona clutchmemberll and a sleeve 10; t The clutch member 11 is provided, on its pe riphery with a series of teeth as illustratedin Figurejet. Loosely mounted on the sleeve 10 and adjacentgthe clutch member 11 is acrank arn1 12; Theyarm 12-isloose on the sleevelO and. is retainedin place thereon by anut 13 engaging "threads on the sleeve a ,Pivoted at i 14: on the arm (12 a i The dog 15 isn provided with teeth 16 isymn etrically disposed'o'nr o L positejsides of y the center line joining tile totlmust i v l Fowt i g qm -plVOi) l lan center ofthe shaft 5; A The teeth of l adevice which will automatically return to a;

16 are positioned: so that. when theydog l fijkis these teeth willengagethe teethof theclutch i member so "as to lock qthesame to thecrankm. arm-l2 so that the clutch member and therethe'crankarmi The dog l 5i-ji's formed withh i ei 9i se ve em, ti nsv t sym tr cally disposed on opposite of a V-ishaped ex t dog 15 is a guide 19 provided with a central aperture 20 within which is housed a spring 21'acting on a ball 22 which is positioned to engage the extension 18 of the dog. The arrangement is such that when the dog is in central or neutral position, the ball 22 will rest upon the top of the extension 18 which is slightly flattened at its top for that purpose,

When the dog is rocked on its pivot to either side, the ball'22 .will'drop into the depression between the extension 18 and one of the cam portions 17 so as to provide a latch to hold the dog in position. Also guided in the guide member 19 is a pair of thrust rods 23; These.

rods may be formed of a stout wire which is bentlaterally above the guide 19 so as topro other of the cam portions 17 will be lifted ormoved nearer to the guide19. If when the dog is in this position thethrust rods 23 bereleased to move under the action ofthis lifted cam 17 and force the same backto-neu- ,tral position or until both rods 23. rest on their respective cams 17. The thrust rods 23 therefore provide means for returning the dog to its neutral position. When the dog is returned to neutralposition, the ball 22 will'again rise to the top of extension 18. The operating end of the crank ar1n.12 is providedwith a grip 29. This grip is recessed so as to receive a lever 26 when pressed inwardly by being included within the grasp of the operator. Lever 26passes through a notch 30 intheend of the arm 12 and is pivoted at 31 tosaid arm. The short endof the lever is pivoted at 25 tothe thrust rods 23 as previously described. It would beclear --thcrefore that so long as the lever 26 15 111- eluded within the operators grasp of the grip 29, the thrust rods'23 will beheld clear of the dog 15. ,Vhen in this condition the dog may be rocked by hand to either one side "or the other so as to engage the clutch member 11 for driving the pinion 7. As soon as the operator releases his grasp, the spring 27 will operate through the thrust rods23'to' automatieally returirthe dog to neutral positi'on and free the arm 12 of driving engagement with the pinion 7.

The shaft 6 maybe provided with a reduced portion 32 and a, further reduced shank33; Pivoted on-the shank 33 isa pair of inter- "locking dogs-o4 and 35. These dogs inter- A spring 27 surrounds the wires 23,

lock with each other for pivotal movement about the shank 33 in the same manner as the blades of a pair of scissors, and are urged toward each other by a spring 36 surrounding the reduced portion 32 of the shaft 6.

The dogs 34 and 35 are provided with manipulative handles37 for operating the same. By pressing together the handles 37, the dogs may be sprung apart and when the handles are released willspring together again under the influence of the spring 36.

When in closed-position, the dogs 34 and. 35 stand adjacent the pinion 7 so as to prevent the same from sliding along the shaft 5 into engagement with the gear 0. These dogs therefore provide a stop to prevent the accidental engagement of-this pinion with the gearv When it is desired to move the drum by hand, the'operator by pressing together the handles 37 may movethe dogs out of the path ofthe pinion 7- which may then be slid along the shaft 5 into engagementwith the gear 3. When the pinion is in this positon, the dogs 34- and 35-, when released, will fall intoengagement with' the teeth of said pinion. Since there are two dogs the pinion will be locked against rotationin either direction. If, however, one or the other of these dogs be movedout of engagement with the teeth of the pinionby operating the handle 37, the pinion may then be operated in one direction,

the other dog acting as a pawl to restrain the spring 2!, one of these rods will engage the drunris being driven. After the. drum has been stopped, the operator may manipulate the handles 37 so as to'elear the pinion 7 for movement into driving engagement with the gear 3. Evenin'this case, however,-if this movement should bemade before the drum actuallycaine to rest there would be-no. danger to the operator sincethearni 12 is at. this timeentirely free-of the pinion 7. The pinion may therefore be rotated without danger of its swinging the crank arm with it. In order to turn the drum, the operator first grasps the grip. 29,;thereby depressing thelever 26 and raising the rods 23 out of engagement with the dog 15. vHe'then manually rocksthe dog- 15 in one direction or the other according to the direction of rotation desired. He will then grasp one of the handles 37 so as to free thepinion'7 from rotation in one direction.

Now by turning the crank arm 12, the pinion llO 7 will be driven to drive the gear 3 and rotate the drum. During such rotation the unre- I vention is not to be limitedto detailsshown and described.

. fectly free torotate bystander. I It is departing leased dog 34 or 35 will act as a pawl to pre-' vent the weight of the clothes in the drum from turning the same backward against the effort of the operator. When the drum has been properly positioned so as to bring its door 48 opposite the door 49 of the tub, the handle 37 is released and the drum is then looked in that position. The operator now simply releases the grip 29, whereupon the spring 27 will return the dog to neutral position and free the arm 12 from engagement with the clutch member 11, and the arm will drop to a vertical position so as to be out of the way. When it is desired to resume power driven operation, it is only necessary to draw the arm 12 outwardly awayfrom the tub and the pinion 7 will be drawn out ofen gagement with the gear 3 and dogs 3a and will snap togetherbehind said pinion so as to prevent the same from accidentallyreturningto engagement with-the gear.

It will be seen therefore that in accordance -with this invention means for positioning such a heavy drum or slmllar member is provided which is protected against danger to the attendants. The accidental engagement of plnion 7 is prevented by a positive stopwhich must'be manipulated manuallybefore the pinion can be engaged. The crank arm further moreis always free of the pinion except when inthe hands of the operator. Furthermore,

the operator must retain his grasp of the grip in orderto maintain operating engagement. In fact, in order to position the drum the operator must have both hands engaged. Onehand grasps thegrip 29 and operates the plnion for turning the drum,- while the other hand holds one ofthe handles 37so-asto free one ofthe dogs 84 or. 35. As soon as the operatorreleases the device, it returns to a condition which either the drum is absolutely locked againstrotation'or in which it is perobvious that various changes may bemade in details of construction without fromthe spirit of this invention; it is, therefore, to be understood that this in- Having thus described the invention, whatj is claimed is:

"1. In apower driven laundry-fm'achine of the'character described having a tub provid- Jed witha door and a drum rotatablein the tub andha ving a door and adapted to be selectively able driving element, an operating handle, a pawl on said handleadapted to elfect drivingengagement, between said handle and said means for latching positioned by hand, an engageelement in one direction, said pawl m dI'lVlIlg engagement, and a cenwithout danger to any i the teeth thereof when the the specific tering ev o eratingt on release; bf an handletodisengage saidpawl.

l ffl power l rivenlaundryl machine the character describedjhavinga tub provided with adoonjjand ajdrum rotatablein the D tub'and having a do or andiadapted to bese lectively p for, meansnormally free adaptedfor manual operation to effect-engagement of said handle 7 with said element, and meansfor locking saidelementadapted upon manual release to permit driving movement thereof inione thereversedirection. l 3. In a device: of the character Jdescribed,

. direction but to prevent such" movement in l ositioned by hand, an engageable i driving. element, an operating handle therei a rotatable'gear, apinionjslidable into and'if i out of mesh with said i gear, and. means nora mally preventing said pinionfrom slidingi into} mesh with said gear, said means includinto t11e; at h of said pinion,

. 85 alever, pivotally mounted for movement 1}" anda spring constantly urging said lever linto said path. 4. Ina device of the character described,

a rotatable gearfa. pinion slidable into and 9 i out of mesh with said=gear, and means nor; 'mallyypreventing said pinion from sliding intome'shwith' saidgear, saidmeans compris pivoted for movement in ing a pail- 0f dogsoppositionto each otherand; a said:dogstowardeachother, engageable with the teeth springurging the}oombination with a rotatable gear, a pinion slidableinto mesh with saidgear, and a manually disengageable dog; normally inthe path. of said ofsa'id gear, said' dog being automaticallyfengageableyupon release with the teeth of. said 1 said dogs b'eing a of said. pinion l when moved out of the path thereof. I I In' adevice of the character-r described,

pinion and positioned radially pinion when the-latter is in mesh with said gear and *including-j m'eans pressing it. constantly 3 toward: a lpOSltIOIL for such engagement'u.

6. In a thecharacter the combinationwith arotatable gear, 'al'pin flz ion slidable into meshwith said gear, 'a manu f l l ally operable dogl pivoted \forfmovement into the path of said pinion and engageable with pinion is meshing with said gear, and a spring constantlyurging said dog into said ion slidahle 'into mesh with 1y "acting pressure means whereby it is automatically engageable with the teeth of said pinion whenthe latter'is in mesh with said gear and automatically movable into thelpath of said pinion when the latter is out of'mesh no i with said gear, and a handle for rotating new said pinion provided with meansfor manually connecting it with the pinion, said means 7 being normally disengaged'from the pinion.

8. In a the combination with a rotatable gear, a pinion slidable into mesh with said gear, a manually operable dog pivoted for movement into the path of said pinion and engageable with the teeth thereof when the pinion is meshing with the gear, a spring constantly urging. said dog into said path and into engagement with said teeth, a handle connected with said pinion for rotation relative thereto, a ratchet wheel secured tosaid pinion, a pawl manually engageable with said wheel, and means normally maintaining said pawl disengaged and operable from said handle to release said pawl for manual operation.

9. The combination with a member adapted for mechanical and manual rotation, of a manually operable rotating device requiring, as a safety measure, both hands of the operator for its manipulation, said device comprisingra latch normally effective to secure said member against rotation and subject to pressure engagement requiring continued contact of the operators hand to maintain it disengaged and an operating handle engageable with said member but normally 'disengaged and requiring continued contact of the operators other hand to maintain a it engaged. V a v v 10. The combination with a member adapted for mechanical and manual rotation, of

a manually operable rotating device,cincludmg a handle and a detent separately controlling the movement of said device, said handle and detent being normally in positions ren dering said device'inefl'ective for the rotation of said member and constantly'pressed automatically toward such positions, and sufficiently remoteto make simultaneous. operation impossible except in the use of both hands of the operator.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature this 5th day of May, 1924. V

7 PETER C. BRUCKMANN.

device. of the character described, 

